Iphigenia in Aulis — excerpt

So many of the heroines of the Tales of Gnosis College seem willing to step into mad-science driven oblivion (as of the date of my writing this Nanetta and Moira certainly, and, depending on one’s metaphysical view of the matter, Iris and Maureen and perhaps Anwei as well) for some great purpose or another that I sometimes wonder if I haven’t discovered in myself yet another fetish. It wasn’t something I was aware of when I started writing these stories. But one does learn the strangest things about oneself when one starts pouring out one’s imagination onto the (virtual) page.

That I might have dug such a thing out of myself is perhaps not too surprising. Edgar Allan Poe conjectured in The Philosophy of Composition (1846) that the death of a beautiful woman is the most poetical topic in the world. As death is one of the things that people hate and fear most, to treat with it in fiction in this manner is thus a Dark Thing. And like most Dark Things, it has Deep Roots. They go all the way back (at least) to the legends of the heroic age of Greece, in a story that lives down to this day, that of Iphigenia, preserved for us in a tragedy of Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis, written around 407 BCE.

The story leading up to the bilingual excerpt I am producing here is as follows. The Greeks have gathered their forces under the command of Agamemnon to fight the against the Trojans, one of whose princes, Paris, has abducted Helen, the world’s most beautiful mortal woman and wife of Agamemnon’s brother Menelaus. As so often in war, things are going badly from the start, as the Greek fleet is penned in at Aulis by unfavorable winds. A seer, Calchas, claims that the ill winds are the consequence of Agamemnon’s having offended the goddess Artemis. Agamemnon can get back into the good graces of Artemis and get his fleet released only by making a human sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia. Agamemnon lures Iphigenia to Aulis with by sending a message telling her that he wants to give her as a bride to Achilles, the mightiest of all Greek warriors. The thrilled Iphigenia promptly shows up at Aulis, together with her mother Clytemnestra (and infant brother Orestes) expecting a wedding. Clytemnestra, however, soon gets wind of Agamemnon’s plans and things soon become rather awkward, all the more so because Achilles also soon gets wind of Agamemnon’s scheme, which scheme Agamemnon had neglected to let Achilles in on. Meanwhile, the rest of the Greeks, sick of being penned in at Aulis, are becoming mutinous. A very grim situation indeed: Clytemnestra and Iphigenia begging and pleading with Agamemnon to spare Iphigenia’s life, Achilles threatening to go ballistic on Iphigenia’s behalf, the rest of the Greeks believed to be threatening murder if Iphigenia isn’t sacrificed.

The situation is resolved with Iphigenia has a change of heart and decides to submit to her being sacrificed for the greater good. And it is something absolutely stunning to read, which I why I am including it as a text here.

IPHIGENIA: Mother, hear me while I speak, for I see that thou art wroth with thy husband to no purpose; ’tis hard for us to persist in impossibilities. Our thanks are due to this stranger for his ready
help; but thou must also see to it that he is not reproached by the army, leaving us no better off and himself involved in trouble. Listen, mother; hear what thoughts have passed across my mind. I am resolved
to die; and this I fain would do with honour, dismissing from me what is mean. Towards this now, mother, turn thy thoughts, and with me weigh how well I speak; to me the whole of mighty Hellas looks; on
me the passage o’er the sea depends; on me the sack of Troy; and in my power it lies to check henceforth barbarian raids on happy Hellas, if ever in the days to come they seek to seize her daughters, when
once they have atoned by death for the violation of Helen’s marriage by Paris. All this deliverance will my death insure, and my fame for setting Hellas free will be a happy one. Besides, I have no right
at all to cling too fondly to my life; for thou didst not bear me for myself alone, but as a public blessing to all Hellas. What! shall countless warriors, armed with shields, those myriads sitting at the
oar, find courage to attack the foe and die for Hellas, because their fatherland is wronged, and my one life prevent all this? What kind of justice is that? could I find a word in answer? Now turn we to
that other point. It is not right that this man should enter the lists with all Argos or be slain for a woman’s sake. Better a single man should see the light than ten thousand women. If Artemis is minded
to take this body, am I, a weak mortal, to thwart the goddess? Nay, that were impossible. To Hellas I resign it; offer this sacrifice and make an utter end of Troy. This is my enduring monument; marriage,
motherhood, and fame-all these is it to me. And it is but right, mother, that Hellenes should rule barbarians, but not barbarians Hellenes, those being slaves, while these are free.

ACHILLES: Daughter of Agamemnon I some god was bent on blessing me,
could I but have won thee for my wife. In thee I reckon Hellas happy,
and thee in Hellas; for this that thou hast said is good and worthy
of thy fatherland; since thou, abandoning a strife with heavenly powers,
which are too strong for thee, has fairly weighed advantages and needs.
But now that I have looked into thy noble nature, I feel still more
a fond desire to win thee for my bride. Look to it; for I would fain
serve thee and receive thee in my halls; and witness Thetis, how I
grieve to think I shall not save thy life by doing battle with the
Danai. Reflect, I say; a dreadful ill is death.

IPHIGENIA: This I say, without regard to anyone. Enough that the daughter
of Tyndareus is causing wars and bloodshed by her beauty; then be
not slain thyself, sir stranger, nor seek to slay another on my account;
but let me, if I can, save Hellas.

ACHILLES: Heroic spirit! I can say no more to this, since thou art
so minded; for thine is a noble resolve; why should not one avow the
truth? Yet will I speak, for thou wilt haply change thy mind; that
thou mayst know then what my offer is, I will go and place these arms
of mine near the altar, resolved not to permit thy death but to prevent
it; for brave as thou art, at sight of the knife held at thy throat,
thou wilt soon avail thyself of what I said. So I will not let thee
perish through any thoughtlessness of thine, but will go to the temple
of the goddess with these arms and await thy arrival there. (Exit
ACHILLES.)

IPHIGENIA: Be persuaded by me, mother, stay here; for this is the
better way alike for me and thee; but let one of these attendants
of my father conduct me to the meadow of Artemis, where I shall be
sacrificed.

IPHIGENIA: I cannot let thee shed a tear. (Exit CLYTAEMNESTRA. To
the CHORUS) Be it yours, maidens, to hymn in joyous strains Artemis,
the child of Zeus, for my hard lot; and let the order for a solemn
hush go forth to the Danai. Begin the sacrifice with the baskets,
let the fire blaze for the purifying meal of sprinkling, and my father
pace from left to right about the altar; for I come to bestow on Hellas
safety crowned with victory. Lead me hence, me the destroyer of Ilium’s
town and the Phrygians; give me wreaths to cast about me; bring them
hither; here are my tresses to crown; bring lustral water too. Dance
to Artemis, queen Artemis the blest, around her fane and altar; for
by the blood of my sacrifice I will blot out the oracle, if it needs
must be.

O mother, lady revered! for thee shall my tears be shed, and now;
for at the holy rites I may not weep.

Sing with me, maidens, sing the praises of Artemis, whose temple faces
Chalcis, where angry spearmen madly chafe, here in the narrow havens
of Aulis, because of me.

O Pelasgia, land of my birth, and Mycenae, my home!

Χορός
καλεῖς πόλισμα Περσέως,
Κυκλωπίων πόνον χερῶν;

CHORUS: Is it on Perseus’ citadel thou callest, that town Cyclopean
workmen build?

Ἰφιγένεια
ἐθρέψαθ᾽ Ἑλλάδι με φάος:
θανοῦσα δ᾽ οὐκ ἀναίνομαι.

IPHIGENIA: To be a light to Hellas didst thou rear me, and so I say
not No to death.

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This site is the oldest of my various blogs. It is the home of the webcomics I write, the artwork I commission, images I curate, and miscellaneous writings. The generally material lies at the intersection of stuff I find erotic and the topos of mad science. The content is definitely for adults only and is sometimes squicky. I make no apologies for these facts. If you don't like what's here, there are plenty of other places for you on the web to be.

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